Senate Democrats failed to garner enough votes Tuesday to move forward with a bill that would have codified protections for in vitro fertilization.
The bill needed support from 60 Senators to advance. Only 51 lawmakers voted in favor, while 44 voted to oppose it. Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski were the only Republicans to vote in favor.
The vote was set up by Democrats after former President Donald Trump said at a campaign rally last month that if he wins a second term in office, his administration would make IVF treatment free to all women.
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IVF addresses fertility issues in women by fertilizing an egg with sperm in a laboratory. However, many women require multiple rounds of treatment, and a single round can cost tens of thousands of dollars — with no guarantee of success.
Democrats claimed that if Republicans want to protect IVF access they should have voted to support this Senate bill. But Republicans like Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley argued that it was a political move by Democrats trying to create a talking point that they could campaign on heading into the 2024 election.
"I'm gonna vote no," Hawley said prior to the vote. "This isn't an IVF bill. This is an abortion bill. This is a impose abortion on states, on the voters, without their say at all. This is taxpayer funding for all abortions no matter what. This is override state regulations on cloning. I mean, if they wanted to vote on IVF, hey I'm fine with that. Put an IVF bill on the floor. I would support IVF, mandating insurance coverage for it as Trump suggested. But that's not what this is and they don't want it to pass... this is just an exercise in political gamesmanship, sadly."
Minority whip Sen. John Thune of South Dakota echoed Hawley's sentiment.
"Republicans support IVF, full stop. No question about that," Thune said after the vote. "This is not an attempt to make law. This is not an attempt to get an outcome or to legislate. This is simply an attempt by Democrats to try and create a political issue where there isn't one."
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This is not the first time that Senate Democrats have tried a move like this. Senate Republicans blocked another Democrat-led push to protect IVF access in June.
However, given Trump's most recent comments on IVF, Democrats viewed this as an opportunity to get Senators on the record again and see if they could garner any additional support from Republicans.
